Data Reference Standard on Person(s): Name Architecture
1. Preamble
- 1.1 This data reference standard provides Government of Canada departments with a consistent way to present the names of persons in their systems and datasets.
- 1.2 Appendix A outlines the required person name fields to capture primary, secondary and alternate names, as well as names that consist of only one word (that is, mononyms) or that cannot be divided into two parts.
- 1.3 The steward of this data reference standard will review the data fields in Appendix A as required to ensure it remains current.
- 1.3.1 Data reference standard steward: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Research and Data Branch
- 1.3.2 Data reference standard custodian: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Office of the Chief Information Officer of Canada
- 1.4 The elements of personal information contained in this data reference standard should be collected, used, retained, disclosed and disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act and its underlying policy suite.
2. Effective date
- 2.1 This data reference standard takes effect on .
3. Requirements
- 3.1 This data reference standard provides details on the requirements set out in subsection 4.4 of the Directive on Service and Digital.
- 3.2 Service owners, data practitioners and other individuals who interact with data must:
- 3.2.1 Apply the data fields outlined in Appendix A to record person names within the Government of Canada according to the data attributes required for your program.
4. Application
- 4.1 This data reference standard applies to the departments described in section 6 of the Directive on Service and Digital.
- 4.2 This data reference standard applies to all datasets and systems developed after the effective date of this data reference standard.
5. References
- 5.1 This data reference standard should be read in conjunction with the following:
Policy instruments
Legislation
6. Enquiries
- 6.1 For interpretation of any aspect of this data reference standard, contact ServiceDigital-ServicesNumerique@tbs-sct.gc.ca.
Appendix A: Data fields
Person name fields may be repeated to accommodate more than one value. If possible, the source of the name must be accounted for, either once for the entire table or as a field within the table. If a legal name is collected, it must be captured according to Table 1, and the collection of an alternate name must also be offered.
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Primary name | May be the surname, family name, last name, maiden name or married name, main name, mononym (that is, a name consisting of only one word) and in some cases, the entire name where the holder’s name cannot be divided into two parts. |
| Secondary name | The portion of a person’s name that is not the primary name. All remaining portions of the name would be entered into this field. |
| Name type | A metadata field to describe a person name for classifying it for legal, administrative or other purposes (for example, legal name, mononym). |
| Name source | Where the name comes from (for example, an evidence of identity (EOI) document, a court-issued document or an attestation by the person). Primary and secondary names should come from the same source. |
| Source date | The date of issuance of an EOI document or other name source. |
| Name collection date | The date the person name is captured in the dataset. |
| Last modified date | The most recent date any person name field was updated or changed. |
| Field name | Description |
|---|---|
| Alternate primary name | An alternate surname, chosen name, preferred name or alias name of a client. |
| Alternate secondary name | Alternate given name or names of a client that can be used to identify which names in the secondary name field should be used for correspondence (for example, a chosen or preferred name or alias). |
| Alternate name type | A metadata field to describe an alternate name for classifying it for legal, administrative or other purposes (for example, a chosen or preferred name, alias or mononym). |
| Alternate name source | Where the name comes from (for example, an EOI document, a court-issued document or an attestation by the person). For each alternate name, the alternate primary and alternate secondary names should come from the same source. |
| Alternate source date | The date of issuance of a document or other name source. |
| Alternate name collection date | The date the name is captured in the dataset. |